People in Fort Erie, Ontario, have been sharing updates from the Canadian town a week after the Niagara Region declared a state of emergency due to extreme weather conditions.
Fort Erie and nearby Buffalo, New York, faced the brunt of Winter Storm Elliot which mixed low temperatures with heavy snowfall.
Images on social media from the southern Ontario town captured viral attention as houses along the shoreline were encased in thick ice. Large waves and spray were thrown across the homes as huge gusts of wind pushed water over the break wall before it was quickly frozen as a result of a flash freeze.
With milder weather on the way, residents and visitors of Fort Erie have shared how things are going over a week after the devastating weather that started on December 25.
Kristin Beth Powers, 58, from Boston, Massachusetts, arrived in Fort Erie to visit family on the afternoon of December 22—just in time to avoid driving bans and road closures in the surrounding areas.
"In the last 10 days Fort Erie has seen a load of differing weather," Powers told Newsweek. "A bomb cyclone dumping a ton of snow very quickly with over 105 kmh (65 mph) winds causing the snow and piling ice to drift into 5-foot-high mounds against doors and windows.
"Visibility was little to none, sometimes only seeing 2 feet in front of you. We had family members who had to turn back from as close as Niagara on the lake—only 30 km away—where there was blue sky and no wind," she said.
During the storm, people across North America were found dead in their cars, in homes without power and in snowbanks. At least 50 people were reported dead across the United States, including 28 deaths in Buffalo, New York.
In a video on TikTok with over 150,000 views, Grace Timson, 23, from Caledonia, Ontario, shared an update of the aftermath a week in showing how ice still encased houses both outside and in.
Timson told Newsweek: "Fort Erie in the last 10 days has been very interesting! To see the destruction of what Mother Nature is capable of, was quite unsettling. Since I don't live in Fort Erie, it wasn't until my family and I went to check on the cottage a few days after the storm, that was the worst moment for me. I had not experienced seeing anything like this before."
TikTokers shared reactions to the horrifying aftermath of the storm in thousands of comments. One said: "That's heartbreaking I'm so sorry," while another wrote: "I can't even begin to imagine the damage you're going to have to deal with. Doesn't help but my heart goes out to you."
"[We] can't do anything to repair the cottage until the ice melts more. As of January 1 it was starting to thaw, making things easier to see what the power of water can do unfortunately," said Timson. "Lots of repair will be needed to the cottage and surrounding yard cleaned. Hard to think that there could be more storms, hopefully not anything like this one."
"We had no power, heat, or cell service for two and a half days, and our generator slowly picked and chose the one plug and one light it would allow on, upstairs and down," recalled Powers. "Then there came a quiet lull in the storm as the beauty of the frenzy rested peacefully around us.
"Next came icy rain, creating even more incredible ice 'sculptures' and then a thick dense fog that has remained every morning except today. Now it is a balmy 41 degrees, and most of the snow has melted."
Powers, an installation artist, shared pictures of the frozen Lake Erie as water waves and crests seemed to have fallen in place and were still standing.
"The 'cliff' edge must be at least 16-20 feet above the rest of the flat cracked and frozen lake," she said. "So many homes and road signs, piers, rocks, trees and lights have been encased in ice. It has been a veritable winter wonderland. But also, now as I have driven around there are many downed trees, thick mud and deep puddles as the weather warms up creating the rich and very odd contrast of intensely green lawns."
On December 26, President Joe Biden issued a statement on social media pledging to ensure people in New York impacted by the extreme weather would get the resources they need to rebuild after the storm.
Cleanup efforts continue in Lake Erie as residents, town representatives, and local charities work together to support those impacted by the freeze.
As temperatures are predicted to continue to rise into the 50s, there are fresh concerns about the impact of a mass thaw and potential pooling water prompting flood warnings in the coastal town.
UPDATE 01/05/23, 02:40 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional witness comments.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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